Diagnosed with Venous thromboembolism

[esquin]

End of last year I felt really bad and over Xmas time really struggling to breath at times. Wen to the doctor and was diagnosed with High Blood pressure. I was already on tablets so they gave me a higher doses of Candesartan.

First week in January my leg really started to hurt and as I had Deep Vein Thromboses twice before and Factor V Leiden I decided not to take any risk and went to A&E. I had the D-dimer blood test, which was very high and after that the scan and already after 1 minute it was clear that I was diagnosed with a DVT. As I mentioned to the thrombosis nurse about the problems over Xmas she booked me in for a CT-scan and that was showing two clots in my lungs, one on each side.

The clots in my lungs is all new for me and very scary to be honest. I am now on Apixaban and the doctor told me that I will need this for lifetime. This is not a problem, to be honest I am happy with that especially because of the higher risk.

It is now 4 months ago and I can feel some improvement. I still have to elevate my leg in the evenings. At the moment suffering from a cold and this seems to have a bad effect on my lungs as I am getting out of breath and struggle during my sleep. Especially the right side which had the horrible stabbing pains beginning of this year. I just wonder if this will keep on happening every time I pick a cold up?!

I have got an appointment at the Respiratory ward in the hospital end of July. Will have to wait and see what the situation is at that time. As I mentioned it is the first time for me to have the clots in the lungs and I do worry about that a lot. By the way my age is 58.

Regards to you all.

Esquin

[jaxta51]

Hi Esquin, so sorry to hear what you've been going through. I hope things are a little better now. I had a second DVT last November for no obvious reason, so also on Apixaban for life, and I can relate to what you say about worrying, so easy to feel every ache and pain and fear what it might mean I try to tell myself to trust the medication is keeping me safe and do some relaxation exercises.

I don't know about clots on the lung not having experienced this, but I did have pneumonia some years ago and experienced night breathlessness, very disturbing. I learnt to change my sleeping position, using firm pillows to prop myself up so I wasn't lying flat. This seemed to help. A v-pillow is useful, it's easier if you lie on your back (which took a little getting used to) and if you find you slide down the bed, a pillow under the knees also helps. Just a suggestion, which might help.

Very best of luck for your appointment in July!